A puppeteer brings a puppet to life with his whole face, mid-story in the lamplight.
He holds the puppet upright and studies it, a portrait of an elder watching from the wall.Face tilted up, he turns the leather in the light to show its carving.
Inside the house, lamplight falls across the yellow walls and into the bedroom beyond.
The screen stands ready, three gunungan planted in the banana trunk and the lamp hung above them.Women gather in the lamplit courtyard as the night's performance draws them in.
The musicians sit shoulder to shoulder facing the screen, their sandals left at the edge of the floor.
The dalang takes his seat before the screen, the puppets fanned out on the chest in front of him.Ki Kasidi raises the gunungan to the screen, and its shadow spreads across the cloth.
The characters take their places along the screen as the story begins.
In the dark of the pavilion, the gamelan players follow the dalang's lead.A boy props a foot on the wall outside to see through the window bars.
Sweets for children are placed in front of a door during the performance
